Fully funded (stipend and fees) PhD studentship available for UK students (Conditions may apply to non-UK students) in the area of Audience Experience across the Universities of Bath and Bristol. There will be opportunities during the PhD for secondment to our project partners.
Supervisors
Prof Danaë Stanton Fraser, University of Bath
Prof Iain Gilchrist, University of Bristol
Research Centres
A collaboration between CREATE Research Lab, Bath and Bristol Vision Institute
Background
This is an exciting opportunity to join a large collaborative team developing and evaluating the latest advances in digital production for the creative industries.
This ambitious project called MyWorld is a new five-year programme funded by the UKRI Strength in Places fund. The £46m programme brings together 30 partners from Bristol and Bath’s creative technologies sector and world-leading academic institutions, to create a unique cross-sector consortium. MyWorld will forge dynamic collaborations to progress technological innovation, deliver creative excellence, establish and operate state of the art facilities, offer skills training and drive inward investment. http://www.myworld-creates.com/
Within MyWorld our team will be focused on measuring and evaluating audience experiences. There exists a range of methods to measure these effects on audience: interviews, surveys, physiological monitoring and measuring behaviour. The team will map out these pre-existing methods, evaluate and validate them, and then add new cutting-edge methods to this battery. We will be working over a range of experiences (TV, VR, AR, Live Theatre, etc.) and with differing types of content (drama, documentary, news). The aim is to have real impact in providing the creative industries with an easy to access toolkit to support audience understanding. The team will be based across Bath and Bristol Universities and work directly with the creative sector in the region.
The Project
Being a member of an audience, either alone or in a group, can result in a wide range of changes in psychological state including: being scared, excited, fascinated, immersed, happy and sad. The experience can also have longer term impact, including changing our attitudes, behaviour, and priorities. There are a wide range of experiences that can lead to these changes and the next 5 years will see the development of new types of experiences and the use of new technology to deliver those experiences.
Your PhD will give you an opportunity to work in this research area with flexibility to work with us to develop a project that contributes to our broad research aims to develop a toolkit to evaluate immersive experiences.
The MyWorld community will allow you to develop your ideas in a real-world context and evaluate their usefulness to the creative industries.
We are very happy to shape the PhD topic to suit your particular interests but example projects might include: the development of a questionnaire to measure immersion; new methods for examining immersion using physiological measures; embodiment, attention or immersion in VR.
The Context
Your primary base, and PhD registration, will be in Bath or Bristol, however all studentships will have the opportunity to draw on the facilities and expertise across the two Universities.
Over the last few years the University of Bath has made substantial investments to infrastructure including multi-million pound state-of-the art facilities for the Psychology department. The department has a dedicated building, which consists of eleven labs (including an EEG lab; a cross modal lab; a VR facility and an HCI lab: the CREATE Lab where the PhD will be based). There will also be dedicated technical support for the MyWorld programme of work.
Bristol is the home to one of the largest communities of interdisciplinary vision scientist in the world, based in psychological science, engineering, biology, the arts and the medical school. There are a wide range of facilities to support this activity including eye tracking, motion capture, EEG and physiological monitoring. 2023 will see the completion of a new purpose build facility to support MyWorld which will include a state-of-the-art research cinema and VR facility.
The Person
We are seeking someone with an interest in the use of behavioural science to study complex real-world situations. You will have an undergraduate or master’s degree in a relevant discipline such as Psychology, Cognitive Science, Human Computer Interaction or Computer Science. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this work, applicants with a different scientific background but a strong interest in this field will also be considered.
Successful candidates will also have expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative research methods, as well as fulfil the entry requirements for the PhD in Psychology.
Preferred start date – January 2024 or March 2024
Enquiries and Applications
Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Prof Danae Stanton Fraser, [Email Address Removed] Professor Iain Gilchrist, [Email Address Removed]
More information about applying for a PhD at Bath may be found on our website.
Applicants must apply online for the PhD in Psychology. It is important to quote the project title on your application. When completing the form, in the 'Funding your studies' section, please select 'LURS' from the first drop-down list. In the 'Your PhD project' section, please state the project title and the name of the lead supervisor in the appropriate boxes. Failure to complete these instructions precisely will result in a delay in processing your application and may result in you missing the deadline for consideration.
Interviews will be the week beginning 4th December 2023.
Funding Eligibility
In order to be considered for the available studentship, you must qualify as a Home student. In determining Home student status, we follow the UK government’s fee regulations and guidance from the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA). Further information may also be found within the University’s fee status guidance.
EU/EEA citizens who live outside the UK are unlikely to be eligible for ‘Home’ fees and funding.
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